Charlemae Rollins President's Program: Think with Your Eyes!

Conclude our year-long Caldecott celebration at the ALSC President’s Program in Chicago by experiencing a powerful method of engaging with pictures—and then exploring the value of using the technique with children. Whether the images are masterpieces on a museum wall, part of a picture book narrative, or photographs and charts in a science text, understanding and appreciating what we see is a skill that can be developed. In part one of the program, Oren Slozberg, Senior Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) Trainer/Recent Executive Director, will invite audience participation as he introduces the process. This method has proven to be highly effective in public libraries and schools in developing observation skills, critical thinking, and civil discourse--powerful habits of mind across the curriculum and throughout life. '

In part two, library and museum partners will demonstrate how collaboration adds up to more than the sum of its parts in supporting visual literacy. Pat Bliquez, Teacher/Librarian at Roxhill Elementary in Seattle, will describe how she uses VTS across the curriculum, with Caldecott books, and in partnership with the Frye Art Museum. Elizabeth McChesney, Director of System Wide Children and Young Adult Services at the Chicago Public Library, and Mary Erbach, Assistant Director of Museum Education at the Art Institute of Chicago, will discuss the 20-year partnership between their institutions that has placed the intersection of visual and print literacy at the heart of their programs. They will be joined by Bryan Wunar, Director of Education at the Museum of Science and Industry, giving them the opportunity to describe how they are responding to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s “Summer of Learning” initiative in which STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) programming transforms to STEAM by adding Art! Take inspiration from the design of their creative three-way collaboration that addresses 21st-century learning competencies—and imagine the possibilities for your library, whether you have local partners or simply access to the wealth of virtual museum resources.

This free program offers the latest research and replicable models supporting the value of training children’s eyes and minds to observe, think, create, and innovate. Please join us! Follow this program on Twitter at #alscprez13